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Geoffrey Sayre-McCord

Geoffrey Sayre-McCord is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Geoffrey Sayre-McCord rather than just read about it. In short: Geoffrey Sayre-McCord (né McCord, born December 10, 1956) is an American philosopher who works in moral theory, ethics, meta-ethics, the history of ethics and epistemology. He teaches at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Geoffrey Sayre-McCord — main illustration
Geoffrey Sayre-McCord — illustration

Key takeaways

  • Geoffrey Sayre-McCord belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
  • Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
  • Connect Geoffrey Sayre-McCord to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
  • Reproduce the core statement of Geoffrey Sayre-McCord from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Geoffrey Sayre-McCord (né McCord, born December 10, 1956) is an American philosopher who works in moral theory, ethics, meta-ethics, the history of ethics and epistemology. He teaches at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He is also the director of the Philosophy, Politics and Economics Society.

Education and career Sayre-McCord received his BA from Oberlin College and his PhD (working with David Gauthier, Wilfrid Sellars, Nicholas Rescher, Clark Glamour, and Kurt Baier) from the University of Pittsburgh. Sayre-McCord is the Morehead-Cain Alumni Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Philosophy, Politics, and Economics Program at the University of North Carolina, where he has taught since 1985. He was a Professorial Fellow at the University of Edinburgh from 2013-2016, and a Laurance S. Rockefeller Visiting Professor at Princeton University in 2015-2016. He is a frequent visitor at the Australian National University and has been a visiting professor at the University of Auckland and the University of California/Irvine. Sayre-McCord has written widely on metaethics, David Hume, contractualism and on issues at the intersection of philosophy, politics, and economics. He is author of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entries on moral realism and metaethics. For five years, Sayre-McCord was a co-editor of the journal Noûs. In 2019, Sayre-McCord received the Philip L. Quinn Prize from the American Philosophical Association, for "service to philosophy and philosophers, broadly construed."

Family Sayre-McCord's parents were William Maxwell McCord and Joan McCord, both of whom were college professors. His brother is Rob McCord, a former Pennsylvania Treasurer. He is married to Harriet Sayre, the daughter of Francis Bowes Sayre Jr. and great-granddaughter of President Woodrow Wilson.

Publications

Selected articles "Coherence and Models for Moral Theorizing," Pacific Philosophical Quarterly (1985) "Deontic Logic and the Priority of Moral Theory," Noûs (1986) "The Many Moral Realisms," Southern Journal of Philosophy, Spindel Conference Supplement, (1986) "Moral Theory and Explanatory Impotence," Midwest Studies (1988) "Deception and Reasons to be Moral," American Philosophical Quarterly, (1989) "Functional Explanations and Reasons as Causes," Philosophical Perspectives (1990) "Being a Realist about Relativism," Philosophical Studies (1991) "Normative Explanations," Philosophical Perspectives (1992) "On Why Hume's General Point of View Isn't Ideal -- and Shouldn't Be," Social Philosophy and Policy (1994) "Coherentist Epistemology and Moral Theory," in Moral Knowledge?, ed. by Sinnott-Armstrong and Timmons (1996) "Hume and the Bauhaus Theory of Ethics," Midwest Studies (1996) "Hume's Representation Argument Against Rationalism," Manuscrito (1997) "The Meta-Ethical Problem," Ethics (1997) "'Good' on Twin Earth," Philosophical Issues (1997) "Contractarianism," Blackwell Guide to Ethical Theory (1999) "Criminal Justice and Legal Reparations," Philosophical Issues (2001) "Mill's 'Proof': A More than Half-Hearted Defense," Social Philosophy and Policy (2001) "On the Relevance of Ignorance to the Demands of Morality," Rationality, Rules, and Ideals, ed. by Sinnott-Armstrong (2002) "Moral Realism," Oxford Handbook of Moral Theory, ed. by Copp (2006) "Moral Semantics and Empirical Enquiry," Moral Psychology, ed. by Sinnott-Armstrong (2008) "Hume on Practical Morality and Inert Reason," Oxford Studies in Metaethics, ed. by Shafer-Landau (2008) "Sentiments and Spectators: Adam Smith's Theory of Moral Judgment," The Philosophy of Adam Smith, ed. by Brown and Fleischacker (2010) "Real World Theory, Complacency, and Aspiration," with Geoff Brennan, in Philosophical Studies (2020) 178, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11098-020-01531-x. "Hume's Robust Theory of Practical Reason," in Routledge Handbook of Practical Reason, ed. by Chang and Sylvan (Routledge, 2021), pp. 141–159. "On Cooperation," with Geoff Brennan, in Analyse & Kritik, January 2018, Vol. 40, pp. 107–130. "Hume's Theory of Public Reason," Public Reason in Political Philosophy: Classic Sources and Contemporary Commentaries, edited by Gaus and Turner (Routledge, 2017), pp. 303–329. "Do Normative Facts Matter...To What Is Feasible?" with Geoff Brennan, in Social Philosophy and Policy, 2016, vol. 33, #1-2, pp. 434 – 456. "Hume on the Artificial Virtues," in the Oxford Handbook of David Hume, edited by Russell (Oxford University Press, 2016), pp. 435–469.

Edited volumes Essays on Moral Realism (Cornell University Press, 1988) Hume: Moral Philosophy (Hackett Publishing, 2006) Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (Oxford University Press, 2015), with Jonathan Anomaly, Geoffrey Brennan, and Michael Munger.

See also American philosophy List of American philosophers

References

External links Geoffrey Sayre-McCord's webpage at UNC-Chapel Hill Geoffrey Sayre-McCord's personal webpage

Illustrations

Geoffrey Sayre-McCord illustration

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Geoffrey Sayre-McCord

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Geoffrey Sayre-McCord claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Geoffrey Sayre-McCord before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Geoffrey Sayre-McCord ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Geoffrey Sayre-McCord

In research
Geoffrey Sayre-McCord appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry
Engineering practice reuses Geoffrey Sayre-McCord in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom
Geoffrey Sayre-McCord is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1956 births, 20th-century American essayists, 20th-century American male writers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life
Look for Geoffrey Sayre-McCord outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.
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How to study Geoffrey Sayre-McCord in 20 minutes

  1. Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
  2. Close the page and write down what Geoffrey Sayre-McCord means in your own words.
  3. Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
  4. Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
  5. Explain Geoffrey Sayre-McCord out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Geoffrey Sayre-McCord in simple terms?

Geoffrey Sayre-McCord (né McCord, born December 10, 1956) is an American philosopher who works in moral theory, ethics, meta-ethics, the history of ethics and epistemology. He teaches at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Why does Geoffrey Sayre-McCord matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Geoffrey Sayre-McCord?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Geoffrey Sayre-McCord.

Tags

  • 1956 births
  • 20th-century American essayists
  • 20th-century American male writers
  • 20th-century American philosophers
  • 21st-century American essayists
  • 21st-century American male writers
  • 21st-century American philosophers
  • American epistemologists
  • American ethicists
  • American historians of philosophy
  • American male essayists
  • American metaphysicians

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